Fortnite Season 8 – The Good, The Bad, The New

It is here! Christmas is here! Well, sort of; at least for everyone that has been waiting for a new season of Fortnite. Fortnite’s 8th season has taken quite the U-Turn from it’s seventh, wintery-based season. The theme is Pirates, and piracy! A Volcano has sprouted in in the world of Fortnite, that has caused an earthquake that has spread out across the lands, changing them significantly. There is a slew of new challenges, new items, and new memories to be made in. I don’t think i’ve ever met a person that doesn’t like Pirates. I mean, how can you not? The entire game is based around being the last one standing, and stealing booty! If you’re still in the winter mood, don’t fret. Epic Games decided not to take out the south-western snowish biome of the map which makes us incredibly happy. It is a great feeling be able to walk to different biomes. It helps keep the game fresh.

Also, make note that there are no longer any planes within the game. This in itself, is going to bring a lot of people back to the game. It seems that Apex Legends has been pushing Fortnite, and Epic Games in a positive manner. I believe that these both games will be able to co-exist, and are going to consistently push each other to strive to be better. It’s going to be very interesting to see the evolution of Fortnite’s 8th season next to Apex Legends. I mean, they’ve already taken a few things from Apex Legends and the game has been out for what…. A month?

Let’s start off by saying that Fortnite has absolutely outdone themselves in terms of scenery, and aesthetics. This game added significant beauty with the release of Season 8. I mean, it is more of a caribbean feel, and that is naturally a pleaser. Who doesn’t want to look at palm trees, and beautiful water? You are going to be finding new things for weeks, and weeks.

I am always amazed at how much Epic Games actually changes the map from season-to-season. I mean, think about it. If you’re someone that has been playing since season one, you know exactly what i mean. This map has evolved to so many different beasts throughout the seasons, it is incredible that it isn’t such a broken mess. I almost compare it to coding, and adding on layers and layers of code that eventually needs to be re-written. However, they’ve managed to keep it clean, and running well.

On top of just the raw beauty of the new scenery, everything is so incredibly large. You’ll know what we mean as soon as you step foot on the volcano. Having taken a break from Fortnite for a few weeks to play some Apex Legends in preparation for the new season, the scale of Fortnite feels incredibly large. Standing on top of the Volcano, you can see Dusty,  Summer Steps, Lazy Lagoon, and what I like to call Tiny Ponds. It is absolutely breathtaking to look at, and it’s going to be very interesting to see the screenshots, and videos people come up with based around it. I think the Volcano, and the cataclysm definitely had some World of Warcraft emphasis. If you’re familiar with the series, you’re going to relate. It is always nice to see other games sort of salute the great work of other studios, and games.

Lazy Lagoon

Lazy Lagoon is my favorite spot to land, and it is going to be an incredibly popular spot for the foreseeable future for a few different reasons. First, it is incredibly pleasing on the eyes, as is the entire 8th season of Fortnite. The beautiful ship that is sitting out in the water, filled with chests and floor drops, is going to be a prime landing spot. If you’re going to land here, expect to fight, and fight hard. I would imagine a lot of high-kill games are going to originate from this area. My favorite spot to land is on top of the mast, in the crow’s nest. There’s a nice chest there that can be looted quickly with a good jump, that can lead you into a few quick kills due to the easy vision.

Spread out around the boat, there are various dingy’s (smaller boats), and islands that are filled with loot chests. If you see a mass amount of people headed for the boat, I suggest you steer off and hit one of these small islands to quickly get a gun. If being out in the open isn’t your go-to, then there’s about eight buildings within the city. There’s a chest that is hidden under the dock near the village, that will likely be a good spot to hit to get a gun initially. It’s not going to be very well-known allowing you to easily take the booty. Overall, it is a pretty solid spot. It sort of reminds me of Happy Hamlet with the different levels of elevated buildings in the village. You’re definitely going to need to be pretty aware of your surroundings while rotating through, or to Lazy Lagoon!

Volcano

Where to start? The Volcano is well, massive. Like, MASSIVE. You can run up the side of the volcano, but unfortunately, Epic Games is smart enough to not allow you to run and fall into the top. The reason this is important, is because there’s a giant spout inside of the volcano. The volcano is going to be very much like Polar Peak, but it’s going to serve a greater purpose. That purpose is fast rotations. This spout will shoot you out, and allow you to re-deploy making traveling the area significantly easier. It reminds us of Season 6, with the vortex and the cube. In fact, the entire area around the Volcano has a lot of mobility.

There are little spouts sitting around the base of the volcano that will shoot you fairly high into the air also allowing you to redeploy. On top of that, there are cannons. Yes, cannons, that you are able to move around, shoot cannon balls out of, and launch yourself out of. There’s a nice tower with four of them on the south-western part of the Volcano near the cataclysm. Back to the Polar Peak comparison: there isn’t very much loot around the volcano, unless you make your way to the outer-areas.

You can, though, go inside the volcano. There’s a throne inside of there so I would imagine there’s going to be some sort of story going on later in the season. There is 100% loot in there, but not a lot. At the end of the day, if you’re heading to the volcano, it should be to either acquire a mass amount of kills early on in the season, or to rotate to other areas of the part. Quick tip: when entering the volcano, make sure you hit spacebar to enable your glider/redeploy. If you don’t you’re going to fly out and be on your merry way whether you want to or not!

Sunny Steps

Sunny steps is a really interesting place. Aesthetically, it doesn’t match anything that has ever been put into the game. It is very aztec-y. It’s roughly the same size as Salty Springs without the salt. It is incredibly compact, and full of loot. There is a lot of elevation so landing at the largest pyramid would definitely be the best choice if you’re looking to slay out. Best part about the top, is that there’s a chest on top as soon as you land, and if you’re in trouble, you can immediately drop down inside the pyramid. There is more loot, and a lot of cover in there.

Sunny Steps feels like it was bumped up significantly in comparison to the rest of the map in terms of floor loot. There is a lot! Being positioned at the North East corner of the volcano, I see Sunny being a very good hot drop if you’re looking to rack up a few early game kills. There is enough loot that there’s going to be plenty of people dropping here, and after clearing them out, there’s no better rotation on the map than the volcano. The removal of planes is going to make anywhere near the volcano, a pretty safe place to drop.

Tiny Ponds

Tiny ponds as I like to call it, is sort of a tiny Moisty Mire. If you were in love with Moisty, and are sad to see it go, I think you’re going to be satisfied with this area. There isn’t a huge amount of loot here, but there will be super fast rotations with the volcanic geysers/spouts. There’s a lot of half-dead trees that are quick woods that will allow you to rotate more safely. The biggest pro to this spot, is how close the zip lines are. Finally, with Fortnite adding the ability to interact with ziplines, they are wonderful. They prove to be extremely efficient when trying to rotate, and there are plenty of great places to rotate around Tiny Ponds.

There is a few smaller buildings in the south-eastern part of this area that are going to be the prime looting spot. If you’re landing here, that’s where you’re going to want to perfect your jump for. It is the quickest loot in the area, and has the necessary elevation to shoot down at enemies trying to rotate through, or up to you. You can then quickly rotate to the North East building, and then to the South East. I imagine this will be an incredibly reliable spot in competitive Fortnite.

Tiny Encampment

This is most certainly one of my favorite spots, and it is going to be hugely popular as soon as people find it. I’m sure a better name will be made for it soon, but we’re going to call in Tiny Encampment for now. It is located North West of Sunny Steps and South East of Tiny Ponds. There’s three decent sized buildings, with good loot in a pretty condensed area. On top of the good loot, there is a vending machine making it an incredibly good location in competitive play. Access to such an early vending machine is going to very likely ease your transition into the mid-game and late-game.

While this place likely won’t be good for a hot drop, it’s going to be good for rotating into hot drops while they’re weak, and slaying them out for some easy loot. There are ziplines very nearby, as well quads, and hoverboards parked inside of the warehouses. If you do land here, we recommend looting up as quickly as possible and rotating out towards Sunny and volcano to clean up some easy kills. Keep in mind there’s a lot of elevation surrounding this area, so be aware of potential ambushes.

This is another prime example of Apex Legends pushing Fortnite, and something that they still have over Fortnite. Fortnite did in fact introduce a pinging system, but it isn’t not nearly as thorough as the one that Apex has incorporated. You use the pings by clicking middle mouse button. Hey, even the keybind is the same. You can ping items, and locations. The main reason this is going to be used, and the main thing it is used for in Apex, is for item location.

Too often you’re going to be squaded up with your buddy and he’s going to be like “hey, blue ar over here”. You’re going to ask him to pick it up, he’s going to say he has no room and then leave it at that. Three minutes later, you’re going to ask where that blue AR is, and you’re both not going to have any idea, and then it’ll be left for someone else to pick up. That isn’t the case anymore. Your teammate will simply be able to look at the item, and hit his middle mouse button (or whatever they bind it to), and it will mark it on your screen. This includes even being turned 180 degrees away from it. It’ll pop on your screen, that’ll lead your right to it.

Secondly, it is important to call out enemies. A lot of people aren’t very good at playing and talking. So, when they find someone, they call it out initially (poorly), fumble their words, or simply don’t call out at all and start shooting. Now, you can simply ping the area where you spot a player, and your teammates are going to be able to look immediately. It’s basically spotting in the earlier battlefields, without the actual tracking of the player. It is incredibly valuable, and incredibly useful not only for you and your buds, but public play too. Now you and those randoms can potentially win with some better communication through the simple system of pinging. Thanks, Apex Legends, for pushing Fortnite and Epic Games in a great direction.

It could be the pirate theme, or it could be another pick-up from Apex Legends. If you’re familiar, there are robots placed across the Apex Legends map that will drop golden loot. I think it’s likely too much of a coincidence for them to not be linked, but that is irrelevant. Why? Because it is a good addition to the game.

It’s going to add more depth than you might initially think, especially because of how the gold chest is in the same location, each game. It is located in the Hellraisergaming’s castle North East of Pleasant Park. To quickly add to this, an epic employee did make note that they will only ever be located within the blocks. If you land here, head into the basement of the castle, you’re going to find the gold chest sitting on top of a cement block. In this gold chest, you’re going to 100% get a gold weapon. Why is that important?

Well, to start, it’s a gold weapon immediately. It doesn’t require you to run around and loot for a gold weapon, you’re going to just have one. While gold weapons may not be as effective as they are in other games, they’re going to certainly increase your chances of winning. That said, they’re going to be an incredibly good location for racking up some kills if you’re looking to go for your kill record.

Everyone is going to want the gold chest, and you’re going to be there to mop them up. There’s going to be a few different ways you can approach that situation. You can either immediately go for the chest, or you can sit back, loot, and bide your time. If you’re going for kills, you’re obviously not going to want to sit back and wait. If you’re looking to win, and want the gold weapon to increase your chances of winning, the relax a little bit. Either way, thanks for the free kills and loot, guys!

Yes, you saw and heard right. There are cannons now in Fortnite. They are incredibly fun, too. You’re capable of moving these bad boys around wherever you desire. They act as a shopping cart when you begin to move them. There’s going to be people running around with literal cannons, shooting themselves, and front-flipping through the air. Epic Games was smart enough, though, to make it so that you’re not capable of just running around with a cannon as a shotgun. On top of that, you can run circles around someone that is on a cannon as well as simply just build around them. They hit for 100 on a direct hit, with a splash of 50 damage.

I would imagine the biggest enjoyment and use out of the cannons, is going to come from the following. You can shoot your teammates, and yourself out of them! You fly super far, providing a fantastic rotation. They are incredibly unique, and add another level of depth to rotations, and gameplay. If you’re looking to get in, and mess with a cannon asap, there is a tower located on the south-western edge of the Volcano that has four of them. Pick one, make it yours, and launch yourself onto an enemy for that ever-so-satisfying ambush.

With the release of Season 8 of Fortnite, everyone’s favorite aspect is now gone. Planes are no more! No more crashing into people’s builds after destroying them with an equipped machine gun. No more, none of that! I think this is probably everyone’s favorite part of the new season. Yes, I was previously joking. I realize they’re incredibly hated.

Unfortunately for us, though, season 7 had challenges requiring the planes therefore they weren’t going to be removed. Either way, the worst is past us. Now, you have a volcano to use for your rotations! I think this is going to bring Fortnite back to it’s bread and butter: implement cool, unique, and fun ideas into the game as opposed to “real-life” objects. I wish I could ride a hoverboard in real life!

With a new season, comes new cosmetics. These are everyone’s favorite part! Playing as characters that you have always wanted to play as. The trend continues, and continues in one of my favorite fashions yet: pirates! There’s over 100 unique cosmetics to earn with the Battle Pass.

When you buy the Battle Pass, you will instantly unlock two new skins: Blackheart, and Hybrid. These two are capable of progressing to four different tiers. This means you’re going to want to complete the Battle Pass fully to unlock the other tiers! If you opt-in for the battle bundle, you will receive Sidewinder instantly as well (this costs more, but is an overall better deal if you’re going to spend the money anyway). Skins, cosmetics, new picks, and new wraps. Everything to get you into the pirate mood! I went ahead and provided each different page (all of the tiers) of the battle pass below. Make sure to take a look, and let us know what you think!

WEAPONS + ITEMS

• Pirate Cannon
  • Push the Cannon into position, take aim, and fire! Alternatively, climb into the barrel and launch yourself!
  • The cannon will fire cannonballs or players a great distance. Cannonballs and players can plow through a number of objects before stopping with a bang, causing damage and knockback to nearby players.
  • Deals 100 Damage to enemies on a direct hit and 50 Damage to enemies within a small radius.
  • Found throughout the environment.
• Vaulted
  • Sneaky Snowman
  • Chiller Grenade
  • X-4 Stormwing
  • Shopping Cart
  • All Terrain Kart
• Updated Hunting Rifle Icon
• Reduced the availability of high tier Assault Rifles
  • Total number of Assault Rifles available remains unchanged
    • Increased chance of receiving a Common quality assault rifle from 48.56% to 56.30%
    • Increased chance of receiving an Uncommon quality assault rifle from 26.83% to 28.15%
    • Reduced the chance of receiving a Rare quality assault rifle from 16.17% to 10.91%
    • Reduced the chance of receiving an Epic quality assault rifle from 7.02% to 3.52%
  • Reduced the chance of receiving a Legendary quality assault rifle from 1.82% to 1.13%

Bug Fixes

• Supply Drops now properly appear on the map.
• If the fire button is pressed while the shotgun cooldown is still active after swapping weapons then the shotgun will automatically fire once the cooldown is over.
• Fixed Clingers causing damage through walls / floors when stuck to a player.
• Fixed players accidentally sticking Remote Explosives onto themselves after applying a Consumable Bush.
• Fixed Legendary/Epic Pump Shotgun pellet tracers and muzzle flash sometimes not replicating to other clients.
• Fixed an issue where players couldn’t use Auto-Run while using a Hoverboard with a gamepad.
• Fixed items occasionally being invisible to some players.

GAMEPLAY

• Added Lava
  • Lava will deal 1 damage per touch and will cause players to bounce off the surface. Watch out!
• Added Volcanic Vents
  • Volcanic Vents will boost players and vehicles into the sky in a gust of hot air!
• Party Assist Added
  • Prior to a match, enable Party Assist on a Daily or Weekly challenge to complete it with the assistance of everyone in your party.
  • Party members are able to provide progress to the selected challenge in addition to yourself.
  • This functionality excludes “fill” players who are added into the party during matchmaking or teammates from large team modes such as Team Rumble.
• Increased Infinite Dab duration from 11 hours to 12 hours in the lobby.
• Cozy Campfire now glows while active when viewed through a Thermal Scope.
• Starting in Season 8, daily quests will be automatically claimed once they’ve been completed.
  • Any Challenges that were ready to be collected will be auto completed and all rewards will be delivered. However, at this time there will be no in-game notification for you receiving these rewards.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where the Lynx Outfit would jitter very badly when playing the original Wave emote in the lobby.
• Fixed an issue where players were able to aim down sights while jumping.
• Fixed an issue where weapons picked up would sometimes be incorrectly unloaded. This would happen if a player looted a weapon dropped by a player immediately after being eliminated.
• Fixed Bush consumable not being destroyed if player takes damage from a great distance.
• Fixed aim assist to work through windows.
• Fixed an issue where players could stop themselves from getting on a Zipline by standing too far behind it and colliding into the ground as they try to enter.
• Fixed an issue where the player couldn’t pick up items dropped around the Zipline pole.
• Fixed an issue where entering a vehicle while ziplining left the fall damage immunity visual effect on the player.
• Fixed auto-pickup of items not working when first landing from skydiving.
• Weapon auto-reloading no longer cancels emotes.
• Fixed an equipped Trap being swapped after dropping a stack of items or after using the last item of a stack of consumables or explosives.
• Fixed equipped traps being dropped when using hold to swap to pick up items.

LIMITED TIME MODE: 50V50

Summary
Two teams of fifty players fight to the finish!

Mode Details

• Each team has a bus, approaching the island from opposite directions. On the map, the friendly bus has a blue outline, enemy has red.
• The map has a dotted line, which indicates the “battle lines” between the two teams. Crossing the line will make running into enemies more likely.
• Farming materials increased 25% over default.
• Chests & Ammo Crates spawn more often than usual, and carry extra ammo.

LIMITED TIME MODE: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

Summary
Close quarters combat with Shotguns & Jetpacks!

Mode Details

• Players start with a Jetpack in their inventory.
• The only guns in this mode are the various types of Shotguns.
• The Storm moves in more quickly than normal mid to late game.

AUDIO

• Above/below footstep improvements.
  • More distinct sound for above footsteps.
  • Tuned the distance at which above/below footsteps travel to be more realistic.
• Improved footstep audio timings when the game simulation is under heavy load.
• Set Down-But-Not-Out alert sound spatialization from the location of the downed player.
• Added stereo sounds for all weapons for those carrying the weapon.
• Added foley audio feedback when crouching and ADS’ing with a weapon.
• Improved Rocket Launcher incoming audio. It now plays an additional warning layer if the rocket is coming towards you.
• Added distant perspective to the enemy glider audio tell.
• Improved damage/elimination audio feedback.
• Added a new shield break sound.
• Improved the “weak-point” hit sound when harvesting.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed in-air wind audio restarting when eliminating an enemy while they’re in mid-air.
• Fixed sniper projectiles not playing impact audio.
• Fixed “Hootenany” emote getting stuck on infinitely.
• Fixed Suppressed SMG sound effect occasionally looping continuously incorrectly.

UI

• Added the ability to access the Patch Notes website from the News Screen.
• Visual improvements made to squadmate names and indicators.
• World Marker Improvements
  • World Markers are now visible in the world when placed close to you.
  • Double-clicking the World Marker hotkey will place a “danger” version of that marker. World Markers placed while aiming with a weapon will also place the danger version.
  • Added 2D UI indicators to the World Markers, making them easier to see through objects.
  • World Markers now have an off-screen indicator and display the distance your character is from them.
  • Placing a World Marker on an item will display that item’s icon and rarity.
  • Placing World Markers remains on the same key for PC and console (KBM: Middle Mouse Button, Controller: D-Pad Left).
    • This button can be remapped to any button you want. Let us know on our social channels what works best for you!
  • Mobile also has a button that can be added to the HUD. Place this button by using the HUD Layout Tool.
• Added filter tabs to the locker for animated loading screens and pets.
• Added a card corner icon for certain types of animated cosmetics.

Bug Fixes

• Fix cases where the Bad Network Indicator would appear at the beginning of the match due to slow loading conditions.
• The Battle Pass / Battle Bundle purchase screen now shows your supported creator if one is set.
• Fixed an issue where the team elimination count was sometimes inaccurate.
• Fixed an issue where eliminations weren’t properly counting when playing in Playgrounds.

REPLAY

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where scrubbing through a replay could cause the player’s hero model to disappear in the lobby.
• Fixed issue with cosmetic styles not displaying properly during replay playback.
• Fixed elimination damage numbers being inaccurate in replays.
• Fixed weapon firing animations sometimes playing twice in replays.

MOBILE

• Added more visual feedback when buttons are pressed.
• Changed gliding/freefalling HUD visibility to be more consistent between mobile/other platforms.
• Player are now able to toggle between crouch and standing states while in build and edit modes.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed bug which caused the lobby background to disappear when closing the Report Player dialog.
• Fixed an issue where trying to switch to build mode and tapping the quickbar at the same time would switch back to combat mode.
• Fixed an issue where attempting to place a trap using a mobile controller made the player animate as if they were trying to open a door several times before the trap is placed.
• Fixed players ability to un-crouch while gliding.
• Fixed action button remaining on the UI during the Battle Bus phase.
• The ‘Resources’ HUD setting now properly shows in-game after making changes on mobile devices.
• Fixed an issue where using touch to edit a structure breaks the ability to continue crosshair editing until the button is pressed again.
• Fixed an issue where dragging an item off the hotbar triggered a double click.
• Fixed an issue where pick up and zip line activation icon’s default position overlapped with the aiming icon.
• Fixed controller art sometimes missing in the Controller Setting screen.